05 Nov 2023
Doha - Aspire Academy’s Football Department took advantage of the mid-term break to organize a training camp for all age group categories in the Turkish city of Izmir.
The coaches were delighted with the progress made by the student-athletes in Turkey.
A total of 167 student-athletes from all six grades, the under-12 feeder squad as well as coaches and other members of staff returned to Qatar on 31 October after an 11-day camp.
As well as daily coaching sessions the student-athletes played a series of matches against local Turkish teams.
The training camp was hosted by Altinordu, continuing an established relationship with Aspire Academy, with other games against teams from Goztepe and Manisa FK.
Aspire Academy went unbeaten in the 14 competitive matches they played across the various age groups.
Inaki Gonzalez Abadia, the Elite Teams Lead for Aspire Academy, said the trip was very beneficial.
“The rigorous sessions allowed us to elevate the skills and foster personal growth for our players,” he said. “We would like to express our gratitude to Altinordu for the outstanding experience we had.”
“The world-class facilities, coupled with the expertise of the coaches, contributed to a truly transformative training program with friendly games against Turkish teams.”
Rodrigo Fernandes, the Lead Coach of the Feeder Teams, echoed those sentiments
“It has been an amazing experience for the boys,” he said. “This was their first camp outside of Qatar as Aspire players and offered them exposure to training abroad as well as competing at a very high level.”
“Overall, an important step in their learning process.”
The student-athletes will now return to training and studying at Aspire Academy for the next few weeks ahead of a visit from Saudi Arabia’s Mahd Academy in December for games against the under-13, under-14 and under-15 teams,
Also in December, the under-16 squad will travel to Spain to take part in the Torneo Villa de Cabanillas tournament.
On Saturday the under-11 and under-12 sides from FK Sumqayit from Azerbaijan arrived at Aspire Academy for a training camp, which will include six friendly games against the Academy’s feeder teams.